


the soft sound of the distant waterfalls

by katiebug0410



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Compliant, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Movie: Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, One Shot, Pre-Relationship, Trans Anakin Skywalker, Trans Character, add just a little character depth, mostly - Freeform, with the addition of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-19 00:46:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29617998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katiebug0410/pseuds/katiebug0410
Summary: Anakin and Padmé grow closer during their hiding on Naboo. set during AotC, one shot
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 7
Kudos: 19





	the soft sound of the distant waterfalls

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to my pals Evelyn and Rachel for helping me edit this! enjoy !

Anakin plopped down into the soft sand after walking the perimeter of the beach they were at, his padawan braid bouncing as he did so. Padmé had already broached the water’s surface, setting her towel, skirt, and sandals besides a large rock by the water. Anakin watched her as she rolled onto her back, kicking the water in little taps. She was clearly a skilled swimmer, as she eased into a backflip, before standing up. A giant smile lit up her face, and Anakin could sense the radiating joy from her. She may not like the reasons for being back on Naboo, but she was certainly comfortable here. 

“The water’s nice, Ani. You should come join.” She patted the water next to her as she adjusted the braided hair buns on top of her head.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Anakin said gravely, struggling to keep the smile from reaching his eyes, lest it ruin the joke. “You know I take my duties as your protector very seriously, Senator. What if someone were to come and attack you?”

“I see your hypothetical situation, Master Jedi, and I raise you another question: what if there was someone in the water that tried to attack me? Then it may be too late for you to save me?” As if to elaborate, she dunked her head under as if she were being pulled by a creature in the depths. It was realistic enough, but Anakin knew that the only other beings in the water were the shiny little fish that could do nothing but perhaps nibble at her toes.

“I guess I would just have to show you quickly I can move then,” he responded when she had bobbed back up.

She shrugged, rolling her eyes playfully. “Okay. But I’m sure it would be easier for you to keep an eye on me if you were swimming too.” Anakin just shook his head, grinning, as she returned to her own antics. 

The sun was warm, but a cool breeze kept the weather mild. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, taking in the sweet scent of grass and lakewater like a sponge, so as to absorb as much of it as he could. Naboo was even better than he had remembered. The water planet was very different from his native planet of Tatooine, where the hot suns beat down on the rough sand of the endless desert. There was no reprieve there. But here, it was moderate and filled with the green beauty of nature. He remembered when he first came here, ten standard years ago to assist the very Senator he was protecting now with taking back her planet. Only then, she had been a queen. Even with the threat of danger and death, he hadn’t been able to stop searching his surroundings for all the new sensations he was experiencing. The wooded forest and grassy plains had felt so much more alive than the whole city of Mos Espa ever did, despite the larger population of beings there. 

Anakin opened his eyes again when he heard the pattering of skin on stone. Padmé had clambered up the large rock, and was standing at its peak, shining like a beacon in her swimsuit. It was a bikini made of some sort of holographic material that shimmered from different angles, and her stomach was covered by strands of tiny gemstones that swung with her movements. It caught the sun, causing multiple rainbows to dance across her skin and the rock. Anakin knew it wasn’t polite to stare, but he was snared by her raw beauty. 

She shook out her arms, then leapt, arching her back and swinging her hands around to point above her head. She entered the water cleanly, and popped up straight into a front stroke. 

Anakin laid down, straight into the sand. Although he had emphatically told Padmé about his dislike of sand the day they got to Varykino, he didn’t mind it so much here. Here, it was a soft pillow. It didn’t bite into his skin or cause chafing like it did at home.

 _Home_. How come after all this time, spending the last decade with his Master on missions and at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, he still thought of the sun washed stone slave quarters in Mos Espa as his home? But it wasn't the physical location he missed, it was his mother. His heart twinged, as it always did when he thought of her. Of her wise advice, her simple beauty, her hardworking hands that also wrapped him in the loveliest of hugs. She was his home. 

And now he couldn’t stop dreaming of her, screaming for him and suffering in his nightmares. Master Obi-Wan said that the dreams would pass soon, as they always did, but they had been tormenting him for weeks already. How could he feel rested if every time he closed his eyes he saw his mother’s lifeless, bloodied body?

He shook his head to clear that image from his mind. Instead, he focused on how relaxed he was physically. His hands rested on his stomach, and the sun shone on his face, and he was starting to get sleepy, and closing his eyes felt so nice…

…and then his eyes snapped open. Had he dozed off? If he had, he hadn’t dreamed, hadn’t had that blasted image of his mother dying burned into his eyelids. The sun hadn’t moved much. He clambered to a sitting position and grabbed the chronometer on his belt. He had only napped for about fifteen minutes. Where was Padmé?

He couldn’t see her, but when he stretched out with his senses, he could tell that she wasn’t far away. She was at a small outcropping of trees about 20 meters away from him, across the water. He could walk around the beach to get to her, but that would take several minutes. It would be a straight shot if he swam. The sparkling water did look refreshing for his sleepy, sun soaked skin. He started pulling his boots off, then the cloths that made up his tunic, then his pants, so that he was only in his undershirt and shorts. He fingered the hem of the shirt, deliberating, then took it off too. 

Anakin had gotten his top surgery more than a year ago, but the sight of his flat chest still sent a small flutter of pleasure tingling through him. It was rather unbecoming of a Jedi to take so much pride in his appearance, but his body had never felt so right as it did after he woke up for the first time with a flat chest. No longer did he have to bind to achieve the flatness he desired, which was safer for him with all of the activity he did as a Jedi.

He waded into the water, a quick shiver running up his back at the startling chill of the water. The pools he had learned how to swim in at the Temple had been heated. He took another step, almost regretting the decision to get in the water at all, but his feet were already starting to get acclimated. Breathing in deeply, before he lost the nerve, he dropped into the shallows, covering himself completely. He gasped as he emerged, but he used only a moment of reprieve, then he dove again, transitioning into a smooth breaststroke. Though swimming didn’t come as naturally to him as he assumed it came to Padmé, there was a refreshing monotony in the movements. 

He remembered arriving at the Jedi Temple as a Padawan for the first time, when they came back from Qui-Gon’s funeral. But just because he already had a master, didn’t mean he could start accompanying Obi-Wan everywhere. Rather he had needed to go back and start his training at the beginning. Not only did he learn about the Force and the Jedi culture, he learned skills like reading and swimming, since he came from a planet where he wasn’t permitted to have an education and the largest body of water was a bathtub. Those swim lessons were interesting, to say the least.

The wooded copse was right in front of him now, and he poked his head out of the water to look for Padmé. She was climbing one of the low hanging trees, with her back to him, and her leg was swung over a branch precariously as she reached for a higher one. Anakin rose more, but she didn’t seem to notice him.

“Boo”, he said, loudly enough for her to hear. 

“Shit!” she gasped, and lost her hold. Anakin laughed as she splashed into the water, holding out a hand for her to grab onto. She laughed too when she realized it was him. “You scared me!”

“Well, that was my intention,” he teased.

She splashed at him. “Asshole.”

He held his hand up in submission. “Okay, I deserve that.”

She floated away from him, treading water. “So you finally decided to join me. Were you sleeping before?”

Anakin rolled his eyes. “Barely. I figured I should come find you before someone else did.” The joke fell slightly flat, as the reason for this whole trip was the fact that there was a hit on her life. They glanced at each other awkwardly.

“I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable before, trying to get you to swim with me. I thought that it was just out of a sense of responsibility, not maybe the fact that you’re trans and didn’t want-”

“Oh, it’s fine,” Anakin interjected. “I’ve had surgery. Obviously.”

“Still, it was wrong of me to assume. I would never want to make you uncomfortable like that.” Padmé smiled, and Anakin couldn’t help smiling back. Her overall enthusiasm was infectious, bleeding into her aura of the Force. 

Despite her treading water, her face was drifting closer to the surface. Anakin, who was tall enough to touch here, held a hand out for her to grab onto. Confused, she accepted it, and he held up his leg. She giggled when she realized what he was doing, and crouched onto the proffered knee, wobbling as she balanced there. “You really have grown, Ani.”

He laughed as he lazily twirled in the water, spinning Padmé with him. “Honestly, I’m not sure how I’m as tall as I am. I know taking hormones added a little bit of height, but it’s not like my mother was very tall.”

Padmé shrugged. “Even in humans, genetics are weird.” He hummed in agreement. They stayed like that for a moment, slowly rotating in the water. She leaned her neck back, her braided hair buns drifting in the water below her. Anakin jerked his knee slightly so that she swayed with it, almost toppling over. She splashed him again. “You really are an asshole,” she said, but there was no malice in her tone. She let go of him, and he tried not to let his disappointment be apparent. “Come on. I want to show you something.”

She dove into a forward stroke, and he followed. She led him to a small nearby waterfall, one that was only about twice his height. Gesturing to the tall slabs of rock in front of her, she started to heave herself onto the small lip. “Through here,” and she pointed at an opening between two of the stones. “Careful, it’s slippery,” she warned as Anakin pulled himself up after her.

Just as Padmé said that, her knee slipped slightly to her left, and she shoved her hand out to the side to brace herself. She shot a quick, pursed lip giggle at Anakin, then continued crawling in. Despite the narrow opening, he found himself in a wider cavern, glowing a soft blue. “Whoa.”

Bioluminescent moss clung to the walls, and an assortment of neon colored mushrooms accompanied it. Pools of water trickled down the walls where there were cracks in the ceiling. “Isn’t it beautiful?” Padmé asked, turning to face him.

“Yeah,” Anakin exhaled slowly. “Wizard.” But it didn’t really compare to the delight written on her face.

“Hardly anyone knows about this place,” she said, leaning against a bare portion of rock. “It’s only accessible from the water, there’s no other openings. And I’ve only shown it to a couple of people. I found it years ago on a season retreat.” She crossed her arms while dropping her shoulders in satisfaction. “The algae is native to Naboo, specifically to the Lake Country. It doesn’t usually grow this close to the surface, but I think it’s damp enough here for it. You usually see it closer to some of the Gungan cities.”

“I’ve hardly seen anything like it,” Anakin said. “Even in all of the places I’ve been.”

“I suppose you’re probably more well traveled than me now. I remember when we first met, and it was your first time in space.” 

He just chuckled, and opened up a palm up to the ceiling, focusing on a trickle of water above Padmé’s head. The water stopped its cascading as it slowly filled into a bubble. She looked above her when she spied his hand, and gasped at the floating ball of water that was growing. Gingerly, she reached a finger up and poked it. It popped as Anakin dropped it, and she laughed. “That was amazing!”

“Oh yeah? Then watch this,” Anakin said. Closing his eyes, he put both of his hands out in front of him, parallel with his chest, and he concentrated. He could feel the life in the fungi and bryophytes around him, ebbing and flowing in the Force like the waves of the lake did beside them. Even though the water wasn’t living, he could sense the organic molecules that structured it, simple atoms at its most basic form. He willed them to follow his commands, to lift up from its worn path on the walls and form more bubbles like the one he had just made.

“Ohh,” Padmé breathed. Anakin opened his eyes to observe how successfully his trick had worked. Dozens of liquid orbs hung around them, floating gently. They magnified the appearance of the glowing plants growing out of the walls, and almost seemed to light up themselves as they reflected it. “Ani, this - this is amazing.”

He smiled. “Isn’t it?” He twisted his fingers, and the bubbles moved towards each other to create a long strand. Another waggle, and it snaked around Padmé, coiling down around her body until it plopped to the ground. She chuckled breathlessly.

“I knew that Jedi had some sort of telekinesis, but I didn’t know you could do something like that!”

Anakin shrugged, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. “Well, I don’t know if I would say we’re really supposed to. The Force is a powerful tool, and should be used responsibly.”

She smirked. “So you’re breaking the rules? Maybe I need to report that to someone, like Master Kenobi.” His eyes widened, even though he knew she was teasing. “I’m just kidding. I think it’s wonderful.” Then she grinned. “Look over here, I want to show you something.”

“Hm?” Anakin stepped over to where she was moving, near the rushing roar of the waterfall. Then, just as his senses put him on alert, she pushed him solidly in the chest. He staggered back, unable to catch his balance, and fell through the curtain of water. “Agh!”

He swam away from the waterfall, spluttering. Padmé leaped out a moment later, and swam to him, cackling. “The hell was that for?” he called, confused but not upset. “Who’s the asshole now?”

She twirled in the water around him, still bearing a triumphant grin. “That was payback. Doesn’t feel so good does it?”

Anakin shook his head. “You know, I’ve learned that revenge is not the Jedi way. You could learn from that.”

“Good thing I’m not a Jedi then,” she said, scrunching her nose. He flicked the water, and the droplets splattered on her face. She retaliated by clapping the surface, splashing him, and so he then escalated it further sending a wave at her. All semblances of their professional personas were dropped, and in that moment, they were simply friends, if a bit flirty, enjoying a peaceful day in the water, unaware of the war that would soon overwhelm the entire galaxy. 

**Author's Note:**

> if anyone has any questions about my version of trans!anakin, feel free to comment below or ask me on tumblr @kananheraa


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